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Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B): Today's Featured Insurance Laggard

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

Berkshire Hathaway (
BRK.B) pushed the Insurance industry lower today making it today's featured Insurance laggard. The industry as a whole was unchanged today. By the end of trading, Berkshire Hathaway fell $2.26 (-1.9%) to $115.64 on average volume. Throughout the day, 4,404,580 shares of Berkshire Hathaway exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 3,257,800 shares. The stock ranged in price between $115.21-$117.10 after having opened the day at $117.06 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $117.90. Other companies within the Insurance industry that declined today were:
Tower Group (
TWGP), down 5.6%,
Unico American Corporation (
UNAM), down 4.8%,
Assured Guaranty (
AGO), down 3.1% and
Universal Insurance Holdings (
UVE), down 2.9%.

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. Through its subsidiaries, the firm primarily engages in the insurance and reinsurance of property and casualty risks business. Berkshire Hathaway was founded in 1889 and is based in Omaha, Nebraska. Berkshire Hathaway has a market cap of $136.3 billion and is part of the financial sector. Shares are up 30.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

TheStreet Ratings rates
Berkshire Hathaway as a
buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, compelling growth in net income, notable return on equity and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the insurance industry could consider
KBW Insurance ETF (
KIE) while those bearish on the insurance industry could consider
Proshares Short Financials (
SEF).